A picture is worth a thousand words ...

[Slippydiff]

... well more of a video actually.

There's no audio, but you'll doubtless be able to gain a telling insight as to how Maranello built cars getting on for 50 years ago.
Small wonder the cars became renowned for their poor build quality (and propensity to rust) it's probably best to avert your eyes between 20.00 and 21.27 if you wish to avoid the grim reality of "handbuilt and finished by skilled, Italian, artisan coachbuilders" (nice masking paper being used at 21.20 by the way !!)

Hopefully it's not a re-post. I hope you enjoy 25 minutes looking into a very different (some may say better) bygone age :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-AYm7hcD68&fe...

Oh, and lookout for the brief glimpse of the great man himself leaving the Cavallino

Edited by Slippydiff on Monday 20th April 17:18

[cgt2]

Thank you

[browngt3]

Well a picture might be worth a thousand words but, actually I think I'm lost for words!

Truly extraordinary. To think what some of those cars are worth now and how revered they are. The complete antithesis of today's corporate manufacturers with their clinical, roboticised car plants.

I have just read 'Go Like Hell', the true story of Ford vs Ferrari at Le Mans in the '60s. To think this tiny, poorly lit, back street garage of a company was so dominate in motor racing that a vast corporation like Ford had to invest its virtually unlimited resources into a project to beat them!

Thanks for posting that Slippy

Edited by browngt3 on Monday 20th April 20:03

[browngt3]

Would still love a carb 365 BB though!

[cgt2]

The stunning part of that video is how different it is internally. The buildings look the same outside (apart from the new bit they added in the late 90's) but compared to the factory floor as it is now it's medieval.

[Slippydiff]

browngt3 said:

Would still love a carb 365 BB though!

The 365 BB was never fuel injected, that was only fitted to the later 512's

I'll have a 512 please, not fussy, can be injected or carburettor, if I could have it in black please too, that would be pretty much perfect !!



If I could have it with some slightly wider rims that would be even better still ...



Actually, I think I'd prefer red over black if we're going with wider rims ...







[url=https://postimg.cc/Yh3RfGLp]

[browngt3]

Slippydiff said:

The 365 BB was never fuel injected, that was only fitted to the later 512's

Agreed Believe they didn't use fuel injection in any of their road cars until the very early 80s. Conversely they used it much earlier in the race cars. First introduced in 1966 with the 330P3 to battle the Ford GT40




Surely the most beautiful car ever?

[browngt3]

Harry Metcalfe in his latest video says the 512 BB is disappointing to drive, the Testarossa being a vast improvement. He also doesn't like the F40, finding it frustrating on the road.

I'm still early in my Ferrari adventure, so yet to drive any of them. F40 a bit out of my league though

[Slippydiff]

browngt3 said:

Harry Metcalfe in his latest video says the 512 BB is disappointing to drive, the Testarossa being a vast improvement. He also doesn't like the F40, finding it frustrating on the road.

I'm still early in my Ferrari adventure, so yet to drive any of them. F40 a bit out of my league though

Harry's probably right, but the 365 and 512 BB are far, far easier on the eye ...

Harry's views are interesting, that's not to say they're right or wrong, just interesting. he raved (and I mean raved) about the Audi UK's SWB Quattro Sport he borrowed for a few days fairly recently ;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SRTehcxjIg

I drove one many years ago, and I can honestly say, it's one of, if not THE most disappointing, overrated cars I've ever driven.

[4rephill]

browngt3 said:

Harry Metcalfe in his latest video says the 512 BB is disappointing to drive, the Testarossa being a vast improvement. He also doesn't like the F40, finding it frustrating on the road......

I watched Harry's 550 Maranello video the other day (amongst many others during this lock-down), and it was quite funny.

He was talking about how he used to run one as a daily driver during his time at Evo magazine, and said what a great, usable car the 550 is (apart from high fuel consumption, and a need for regular tyre replacement), with fantastic performance, great flexibility, greatly improved build quality (apart from Ferrari's standard sticky plastic's on the various switches and vents), how it had wonderful, direct steering, how good the Fiorano handling pack was, and how much more usable it was than his Testarossa.

Basically, he said the 550 was one of the greatest cars Ferrari ever made, and was even better than the 575 that followed it.

Then he went on to say that given the choice, he'd take the Testarossa over the 550 every time, because, as compromised as it was, and despite being harder to live with day in, day out, driving the Testarossa gave a much bigger sense of occasion than the 550.

[johnnyreggae]

Slippydiff said:

... well more of a video actually.

Thanks: love the pile of old race car bonnets (312PB I think) at about minute 7

[P5BNij]

Thanks for posting that - really enjoyed it from start to finish. The 308s, 400s and 512BBs are all wonderful to see, but the sight of those Boras and Meraks at Maserati hit the sweet spot for me.

Time to share that link elsewhere...

[Fiammetta]

Testarossa is ok ish to drive , no PAS and far too much weight behind .You feel it on every corner / curve and when braking .
Wide car too .
You can’t hustle it in the bendy bits .
How ever it’s very quick north of 100 and the rev limiter kicked in on mine @185 mph .
It’s pulls strongly up that btw .
Many cars I have maxed the final 10/15 takes an ice age , with the Testarossa it does not .

Front tyres are wide and the driving position is mega offset after on hour your thigh and hips ache due to the twist to reach the centrally positioned peddle box .

I got rid of it as the lack of PAS was a pain .

[Slippydiff]

johnnyreggae said:

Thanks: love the pile of old race car bonnets (312PB I think) at about minute 7

Indeed, the 312PB was retired at the end of '73 apparently, so it's been suggested the film was shot late in the Spring of '74, the 308 GT4 having been launched at the Paris Motor Show in Nov '73, and judging by the numbers seen in the film, production was well underway by the time the film was shot. Good to see they used really good, sturdy transit crates to ship those GT4's in

[browngt3]

4rephill said:

Then he went on to say that given the choice, he'd take the Testarossa over the 550 every time, because, as compromised as it was, and despite being harder to live with day in, day out, driving the Testarossa gave a much bigger sense of occasion than the 550.

I think this is precisely why we prefer the older cars. They lack the outright pace, handling, grip and refinement of their modern counterparts. But their rawness, sense of connection, looks and the way they demand to be driven rather than do everything for you is what sets them apart. And the 550 is an old car now! When Ferrari are finally forced to go all electric we'll treasure these primitive beasts even more!

[browngt3]

Slippydiff said:

johnnyreggae said:

Thanks: love the pile of old race car bonnets (312PB I think) at about minute 7

Indeed, the 312PB was retired at the end of '73 apparently, so it's been suggested the film was shot late in the Spring of '74, the 308 GT4 having been launched at the Paris Motor Show in Nov '73, and judging by the numbers seen in the film, production was well underway by the time the film was shot. Good to see they used really good, sturdy transit crates to ship those GT4's in

I'm not certain but is that a 512S prototype about 17.10?

[Slippydiff]

I assume most have seen this film ? I bought the original VHS copy of it new some 35 years ago ...

Ten years on (this on the basis they were producing the 288 GT0) from the previous film, Maranello must have seemed more akin to NASA for those working there, especially when compared to the chaotic scenes filmed back in '74 !!

Enjoy :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAQz2NWNU

[browngt3]

Another fascinating watch Slippy. No I haven't seen it before. Its a complete transformation in 10 years, there's even a robot paint sprayer! Ferrari started to employ real QC policies by 1982 learned from the Japanese. Discovered this last night on reading an old Ferrari magazine from 1986 prompted after watching your video Also a big piece in their about the foundry. I'm delighted to discover that, although still hand made, my recently acquired QV was constructed with a bit more deference to quality, lol!

[Slippydiff]

browngt3 said:

Another fascinating watch Slippy. No I haven't seen it before. Its a complete transformation in 10 years, there's even a robot paint sprayer! Ferrari started to employ real QC policies by 1982 learned from the Japanese. Discovered this last night on reading an old Ferrari magazine from 1986 prompted after watching your video Also a big piece in their about the foundry. I'm delighted to discover that, although still hand made, my recently acquired QV was constructed with a bit more deference to quality, lol!

Glad you enjoyed it.
I used to own a brass and bronze, sand and investment casting foundry, so the video always made interesting viewing. If you're able to scan the article about the foundry in the Ferrari mag, and either email it to me, or post it up here in this thread, it would be much appreciated

Well no doubting the quality had improved (not difficult !!) though I noticed one line worker slapping what I imagine to be black paint on the underside of a 308/288 GTO chassis on the production line, I thought he was probably touching a scratch or chip up, but then in the next shot another worker was welding the front suspension pickup points on a 308 chassis, so maybe they'd got a bunch of chassis that needed revisions, and they did them during the build process on the line rather than "out in the yard somewhere", as they'd done 10 years previously ... ??

[browngt3]

I will try and scan them at my office tomorrow. All 10 pages of it. Can you imagine a car mag now, devoting 10 pages to a foundry, even if it is Ferrari! It was a special on Ferrari by Grand Prix International. Not a mainstream publication even back then